Multitasking during lockdown
As I write this in partial lockdown, I’m working from home, my younger son has returned to school - but is mainly watching videos because his teacher cannot work - while my older son has yet to go back. He spends most of his day in front of a computer, navigating Word documents and PowerPoint presentations, dealing with the frustration these things can generate in a young child, as they do in us.
My mind is full. Full of things to do (cleaning, buying, cooking, organising), work projects to develop, quotes and invoices to send, and lots of uncertainty about the future. Having a full mind, multitasking and overthinking is not good for me. In fact, it is not good for anyone - and is the exact opposite of mindfulness.
Mindfulness to look forward
Mindfulness is about living in the moment, being present and fully engaged both in what we’re doing and what is happening around us. Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, describes mindfulness simply as “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.”
Since the coronavirus outbreak, we are all suddenly juggling many different things. We may consider ourselves, if only at times, successfully on top of this ‘new normal’, but how are we really feeling? How is our mind? Are we able to focus on what we’re doing? Or are we wandering from one thing to another, feeling unsatisfied with the result?
Personally, I’m feeling overwhelmed by thoughts, action plans and contingency plans….and I’m sure I’m not alone. Now, more than ever, I believe mindfulness is important to protect us and to protect the quality of what we do. Trying to achieve everything simply doesn’t work. But how can we find a balance? How can we complete our to-do list without making our kids, clients, partners, families and friends unhappy? How can we find our happiness in this new life? Mindfulness could be the starting point.
Why mindfulness?
Mindfulness has been shown to help people stay on task, approach problems with an open mind and avoid taking disagreements personally. Studies show that people who practise mindfulness regularly find their focus increases, they stay calmer under stress and have a better working memory - benefits that could help all of us in these uncertain, challenging times.
Practising mindfulness during the day
According to the Emotional Intelligence guru Daniel Goleman, to get the benefits of mindfulness we should, “try three ten-minute sessions of mindfulness throughout the day, by putting everything aside, and just bringing your full attention to your breath. Don’t try to control it — just sense the full in-breath and the full out-breath. If you notice that your mind has wandered, simply bring it back to your breathing and start over with the next breath”. As Coleman explains, we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves when our minds wander and we lose track. Bringing focus back to our breathing is a simple and effective answer, not just in that moment but because it seems to strengthen the brain’s ability to concentrate.
The benefits of mindfulness have a scientific explanation. When we worry, feel challenged, overwhelmed or are distracted, we activate the primitive part of the brain, the amygdala. By practicing mindfulness we activate our brain’s prefrontal cortex instead, the area that controls our attention. If we can calm our amygdala, it allows the prefrontal areas to operate more effectively — and thus to better focus our attention.
Finding the “right” time
Working parents often report that it’s hard to find time for themselves without feeling guilty. Fortunately, I’m quite good at carving out time; I manage to run, talk to friends, read my beloved books and have even started knitting recently. But this doesn’t mean it’s easy and sometimes doing things for myself means multitasking: running while thinking about the content of a client’s video; knitting but thinking about my son’s assignments that I forgot to hand in; reading about a single lady living in 19th-century Winchester yet thinking about what to cook for dinner.
At the end of the process I feel exhausted and far, far away from the concept of mindfulness. I’m already convinced that mindfulness and meditation are beneficial but I struggle to fit this practice into my daily routine. According to Michelle Gale mindfulness can be practised in every moment of our lives - while we drink our coffee, on the bus, at bedtime or even at work. Practical examples are shared in this article.
“For working parents, my advice is to instead insert just a few small moments of mindfulness into your day, even — and especially — when life seems too busy, hectic and out of control.”
Time to take action
Last week, after almost three months of lockdown and being aware that this situation is clearly not going to be over soon, I decided to take action, starting with organising a mindfulness programme for my wonderful Brite team. They are also struggling with this situation, some managing feelings of loneliness while others are dealing with a new lack of privacy and boundaries in a house full of people (some of them constantly needing help!) while doing their best for our clients.
We don’t know how this training will impact our lives, but doing something for ourselves, allocating some me-time, is the first step and already generating a certain feeling of accomplishment. Our first-class begins today, run by Laura Artero, a hypnotherapist and mindfulness meditation teacher, and we promise to share pictures and ideas from our sessions, to show how this can also be beneficial to you.
Take care, and remember to stop and breathe,
Chiara Caligara
The picture below was taken during a day-trip to the South Downs National Park.
